The Clock Tower
by lavenderkunoichi
Summary: Gaara is a photographer who travels to Japan. He travels to an eerie village with an eerie history. Soon enough, a tea house owner describes a love story around a certain Clock Tower located in this village.


The Clock Tower

The crimson haired westerner stared through the lens of his fisheye lomo camera. About a week ago he had arrived to Japan to do some photography for his company, but instead had been a few photos short from finishing.

Only arriving with his equipment, and two weeks worth of clothes, and maybe a couple of yen to get through his stay, he had been lost in boredom. Staring through the lenses of his lomo, he stared at passer-byers who had been head to toe in designer shopping bags, and parading in their high cost fashion, and suddenly realized nothing really interested him. Deciding to take a break, he sat at an outdoor restaurant seat, and eyed an menu seeing if anything really interested him.

"Great, no authentic Japanese food." Gaara whispered to himself with slight sarcasm. He stared at the high quality Chinese cuisine menu, and sighed blankly to himself. Eventually a male with graying hair greeted him, and swiftly took out his pen and pad of paper, waiting for his order.

"I'd like some Sweet and Sour chicken," Gaara had asked awkwardly in Japanese. "Oh, and a cup of hot tea."

"Coming right up." The man replied with perfect Japanese.

Gaara stole a glance at the male's nametag, and inwardly acknowledged that the man's name was Kakashi. Obliviously, he wasn't Chinese.

Leaving, the waiter scoured into the entrance of the restaurant, and left Gaara by his lonesome. Taking out his digital camera, from his arm bag, Gaara skimmed through the photos he had taken yesterday, and rubbed his temple. The photos weren't as nearly as good as the ones he took last month in Taiwan. He had arrived this spring to see the cherry blossoms in bloom, but his photos didn't really placate him. Surely, they would impress the company, but his taste was slightly different.

Being startled by the arrival of his food, Gaara quickly placed his camera back in his arm bag, and nodded in approval towards the waiter.

"Arigatou Gozaimasu." The crimson haired man muttered thankfully.

Breaking his chopsticks apart, Gaara began to munch down at his tough-chewing chicken, with an disappointing face. Finally quenching is thirst; he sipped loudly while drinking his scalding, water-downed tea. Letting an exasperated gasp for from his lips, he sighed almost contently, and wiped his mouth clean with a white napkin. Finishing, he walked towards the counter, and paid his bill.

Deciding to leave this part of town, Gaara headed towards his Vespa, and placed his black helmet onto his head. Leaving, Gaara traveled down the streets of Tokyo, and stared mesmerized at the towering buildings in the horizon. He was definitely long ways from home, because America was so different compared to Japan, no doubt about that. Reaching a nearby village, Gaara decided it was safe for him to put in headphones from his MP3, knowing traffic wasn't a biggie around these parts. Turning up the volume, Gaara tap against the handles of his Vespa to the melody of music, and smiled. Traveling down the empty streets, Gaara eyed the eerie corners of the village with cautious eyes. He stared down at his watch, and open-mindedly assumed everyone was either working or at school. Reaching towards a different part of the village, Gaara eyed the Japanese Inns and Teahouses with allured, aquamarine orbs. Something about the deserted atmosphere caught his eager attention. Stopping at a old-styled teahouse, Gaara hopped off his Vespa, and walked into the sliding door entrance.

"Welcome." Greeted an elder woman with plump attributes.

"Konnichiwa." Gaara replied while bowing.

"Sit anywhere you want," The woman spoke with eager eyes. "We haven't had tourists in quite sometime."

Gaara smiled happily realizing that this kind of teahouse wasn't exclusive, and as he sat down onto the tatami flooring, and when doing so, beautiful meikos, and geisha entered the narrow room. Each of the dolled up women took place at the end of the teahouses and picked up their oriental-styled instruments. One of the meikos played a samisen, and one other played the Biwa.

The elder lady balanced a pot of boiled oolong tea, and one single cup onto a tray, and lightly placed it onto the low table. Picking up the pot, she gently poured the tea, and smiled while doing so. Just when she was about to leave, Gaara politely stopped her.

"Sumimasen," He hesitantly spoke. "If it wouldn't be much of a bother, could you tell me the history of this village?"

The women smiled genuinely.

"Oh, young sonny quite curious about this place isn't ya?" She replied with a light chuckle.

"You see, I'm a photographer, and I if I take pictures, I need the background history. Gaara eyes widened happily. "This place is just so-"

"Intriguing?" The woman spoke, while finishing his sentence.

Gaara nodded politely. The elder woman plopped down across from him.

"Ahh… Where do I begin?" She started, seemingly going into flashback. "Oh yes, this exact tea house was made during the Edo Period." "It was the perfect place to have tea ceremonies!" The woman seemed so enthralled. "Sadly, nowadays this place is for tourist, but then again, I hardly even get any tourist customers!" "Tsk, Tsk", She said with a bit of enthusiam." "This place was passed down by generation to generation, but what shame!" She said while placing the back of her hand against her forehead. "Umeda san passed away years ago, without even marrying or bearing a child." The old lady shook her head disappointingly. "Poor soul, some people believed he was cursed!" "Doomed to never be married!" "In his will, Umeda san left his teahouse to my name." "To **my **name!" "Can you believe that!? "Out of all the people-" "To think, I used to be a geisha working here!" Suddenly, a blush embedded onto the old lady's cheeks. "All those handsome me would come here to see me." "Oh-" "Sorry sonny, I'm just rambling!" " I don't mean to reminisce like this!"

"It's quite all right." Gaara answered well mannered like.

"Such a polite boy!" She complimented. "Anyways!" She began once more. "This village is quite old, yes indeed." " This place was filled with culture- during the Edo period I mean." "This village was filled with Samurai, who had the desire to study literature, philosophy, and may I not forget Martial arts!" "Also, Neo-Confucianism was at a high peak, when philosophy was the "in thing". "But- enough about the boring stuff, right?" "Let me tell you about the really interesting history." "As a little girl, my grandfather would always tell me stories about legends or myths around these parts." "May I tell you one of them?" The elder lady had asked.

"Yes, Please." Gaara answered respectively.

"You see that clock tower over there." The women spoke while pointing at the western-looking landmark.

"Yes." Gaara replied with a look of confusion.

"That was built when my grandfather was a young lad." She said with a nostalgic look on her face. " I know, a weird place to put a western type of architecture in these parts, but it did attract a lot of people." "My grandfather once told me story about that clock tower." "It's a sad story actually." She said while clearing her throat. "It's a story about a girl, probably about your age." "A story about love-" "And loss."

_ Long ago, the striving Hyuga clan practically ran this village. Hiashi Hyuga was a big business tycoon, who only affiliated with other big business tycoons. These people were only interested in expanding, and having Japan become a developing country like all the other western civilizations. Hiashi was strict old geezer, but somehow defeating the odds he had a kind-hearted daughter, named Hinata. Hinata was a sweet-natured girl who was the exact opposite of her father. She loved all people, and whenever she got the chance she helped whoever needed it. Reaching at a blossoming age, Hinata met a boy, whom eventually she fell in love in with. Sadly, the boy wasn't up to her father's standards, and horrifyingly enough, Hiashi had an arranged marriage in store for young Hinata. Trying to be defiant of her father, Hinata and the boy had planned to elope. The boy had promised to meet her at clock tower. _

"Sonny, this is when the story gets sad." The elder woman said with a frown.

Hinata had waited all night out in the cold, and since the temperatures were freezing, Hinata grew colder, and colder, and well. She didn't make it. She had probably gotten sick, and died of a fever. And what of the boy, you may ask? His body was discovered the next day. Rumor had it, that Hiashi had found out about their plan, and decided to have someone kill him. Till this day, people say young Hinata haunts the clock tower. Some say she doesn't realize she is dead, and that she is still waiting for her beloved.

"Wow." Gaara replied while getting shivers.

"Such a sad story." The woman spoke while shaking her head disappointingly.

"But it's myth, right?" Gaara asked nervously.

"Yes, a myth." The elder woman replied hesitantly.

Gaara stared down at his watch, and had acknowledged what time it was.

"I best be on my way Ma'm." Gaara muttered before bowing goodbye. "How much do I owe you?"

"Tea is on the house." The woman replied genuinely. "Listening to me babble on and on is payment enough."

Waving goodbye, Gaara cunningly left yen onto the table, realizing the lady my need it. Bringing his helmet to his head, he sighed tiredly while hopping onto his Vespa. Staring out to the distance, Gaara a gapingly eyed the clock tower. Hearing the story, had fueled his curiosity. Traveling down the street, Gaara listened to his MP3 while heading off towards the Clock Tower.


End file.
